What are Your Expectations?

I have learned over the course of my career that expectations are everything. The expectations of your manager, the Project Sponsor, or your client…can all have an impact on your day and how your efforts are interpreted. This can result in a great day or a lousy day. Why? Because we rarely take the time to discuss expectations at the beginning of the project. If we don’t have this discussion at the beginning of the project, we may not be prepared for the response at the end of the project. I’ve heard my colleagues talk about the difficult discussions that can take place when the project team delivers an end result that is different than what the Project Sponsor, or the client, was expecting. Yikes.

I like to encourage people to ask their Manager, the Project Sponsor, or their client the following question at the beginning of a project:

“When we successfully deliver this project, what does it look like to you?”

The answer to this question will provide you with a vision of what they are expecting from this project. What the final result of the project will look like, how it will work, and how it will be delivered or implemented with the stakeholders.

This is critical information for the project team. Based on the answer to this question, we will now have a better understanding of what the project deliverable is expected to look like. The vision has been communicated. The project team now has insights into what the Project Sponsor, or client, is envisioning. This can be powerful information for the project team to recognize and act upon.

Asking the question is easy. But we need to have the self-awareness to understand when the question needs to be asked, and of whom. For instance, if you’re a new Project Manager in the organization, is it your expectation that the project team knows how to work on a project? That they understand how projects unfold, and the critical elements that are integral to the project process? What about the technology being used throughout the project for tasks, schedules, meetings, and defect tracking. Are you expecting that everyone on the project team already has experience with all of these activities and actions?

Anyone who has worked on a project team knows that projects can be led, and managed, differently depending on the organization, and the Project Manager. That’s why, I believe, it’s important to review the basic organizational project principles with the project team. For instance, the processes relating to how the project will unfold, the key elements of the project process, what the Project Sponsor/client are expecting from the project, and how the project team members will be contributing to the effort. Project management has standard practices, however, these may be imposed differently in some organizations.

Have you ever considered what your expectations may be from your team? Have you asked the project team members what their expectations are by working on this project?

Have the discussion - with your Manager, the Project Sponsor, client, the project team…and yourself. After all, expectations are everything.

Always be learning.